1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods for measuring areas and volumes, and in particular to a method for measuring the area of a selected region having an arbitrary boundary, the selected region being disposed at a different elevation from a background region having a known area. The invention is particularly applicable to the measurement of area and volume of irregular features resting on a flat plane, such as the volume of a region of solder dispensed onto a printed circuit board during assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art techniques for measuring the area of surfaces typically employed transferring the area of the surface to some other medium from which the area could be determined. For example, the area was transferred to a flat surface upon which a planimeter could be employed, or the area was determined using a computer system by determining the boundary from an image on a screen. The computer could then determine the number of pixels present within the inscribed area.